Medal Monday!
Well, here I am writing a race report for a half marathon after I failed to write one for both the Ironman 70.3 races last year or may be this will inspire me to go back and write about those experiences! 😃
San Diego Half Marathon. This was one of the races that I had registered last year in order to earn a triple 👑(something that you get when you run Carlsbad half/full, San Diego half and AFC half in one calendar year). I learnt about it last year when I did AFC half when I mentored folks from Team Asha to cross and PR! I then decided that I’d try and sign up for these races and it’s probably after about 5 years when I am officially signed up for half marathons. The last time I remember doing that was in Chicago!
After I had a PR in Carlsbad marathon, I was motivated to try and beat that at SD Half but had been on and off with my training because of my move and laziness. But I was sure to give it my all and see what happens!
My coach, Mandy Leonards gave me some great tips and advice which was helpful and I was motivated to try and execute them!
Night before the race: Got done with dinner around 9:30(rice, lentil curry and okra and jack fruit). I clearly couldn’t sleep the night before and I remember doing laundry 🧺 around 1am to wash my new top and tri shorts. I should have kept everything ready and taken a picture of my gear to share with all, I didn’t and clearly suffered at the race!
Race day and breakfast: Raghu and I had planned to leave home at 5:15am to drive to San Diego and figure out parking situation and also collect my bib from a friend, who had picked it up for me! 🙏😊 I was up by 4:15am and fiddling with my phone, downloaded workout from TP onto my watch and started to get ready(watch and AirPods were charged) HRM strap was ready and was also going to carry a waist band to hold any gels/chews that I forgot to carry!🙄 I washed my running water bottle but forgot to carry that as well! Soo I basically had to stick to on-course nutrition for fuel. I drank cold UCAN protein shake in the morning and ate a banana while driving.
We made it on time at 6:40am, parked and power walked/jogged to Harbor bridge.
I made a quick stop to the porta party and headed to my coral 3. Was a little nervous but felt better after I saw a few familiar faces from Tri Club of San Diego! Said bye to Raghu when he reminded me that I should warm up and do some dynamic stretches ( I did none of that!! 😝). I just wanted to get started and get on with it because the anticipation was making me kinda nervous!!
The gun goes off and I started my watch in workout mode (which I had never used for a run before). Just around then I didn’t want to risk it soo I simultaneously started tracking my run on Strava too just in case!
My first mile, I felt great and kept zipping! I did feel fast but when I looked at my watch it says 6:50 something and I knew I was going faster than expected! I tried to slow down and get my HR down but with the workout mode I couldn’t see my HR show up as one of the fields on my watch! (Lesson learnt - never try new workout/settings for the first time on race day!! Ai ai…I should have known that!!) I wasn’t even sure if my HRM got paired with my watch so I kept going. I kept clicking pictures and listened to music to distract myself! I couldn’t understand any of the fields (step timer, pace and something else) that I stopped looking at my watch and continued to run. I knew I started my run around 7:33am so I kept checking my phone frequently to look at the time! With all the gadgets I own, I finally resort to manual mind calculations during a race! 🤷🏻♀️🙆🏻♀️
I felt great when I crossed the first couple of mile markers that I did not stop for water and kept going. My first sip of electrolytes was at mile 3 when I picked up a pink colored liquid and felt great drinking that sweet stuff!
Plan was to pick up my pace between 2-8 miles after going slow on the first mile. I clearly had to do the opposite after I realized that I was way faster for mile 1. I took another quick sip at the next station and waited for gel around mile 6.2 which was where they had on course nutrition.
The first noticeable incline was at Nimitz bridge around mile 5.5 and I was soo happy to see Crystal at the top cheering 📣 for everyone! She took a pic and I was glad that I was headed downhill.
It was time for some on course nutrition at around 10K. Running and picking up gels on the go ain’t a great idea after I had dropped a couple while trying to grab them from the volunteers. It was around 50 minutes into the race and I was having my first gel/fuel and trying to chug along. I tried to keep going and took a couple sips of water at the next water stations.
I kept cruising until I came across the hills between mile 8 and 10.
It was a slow and and gradual slope and as suggested by my Coach, I tried to chug along and not walk! I was tempted to stop at the end but didn’t have to. I kept sipping my gels here and there and kept thinking may be chews would have been better lol!
After passing through Hillcrest, I was at mile 11 and felt good and tried to pick up my pace which was hard!! I wasn’t really tired but it wasn’t easy to pick up the pace. It had to be a downhill to get some momentum and get that negative split! Phew! As I was running, it felt forever to get to the finish and I don’t think I could have done any faster? Or may be I could have? Finally crossed the finish line arch and spotted Raghu right at the finish line when I took his picture(for a change :P) and posed for pictures!
- Good race overall! Raghu accompanied me and waited and cheered for me!! 💗
- I didn't walk up the hills and kept chugging along as directed by Coach!
- Glad I finished sub-2 hours. Three mile splits under 8 minute/mile and negative split.
- Gotta plan and prep previous day! Take a picture.
- Fueling...still a problem. Gotta carry and take more frequently. May be practise during training runs
- Gotta work with gadgets and experiment during training and not on race day.
